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Working for a UK company but soon to be living in Germany

Toytown Germany > Discussion forum > Germany-wide > Life in Germany
simon_c
ok so i know this could open up a can of worms having searched through some old posts, but i couldn't find anything other than mentions of it.
Here's the deal.
I'm moving out to germany next weekend but will still be working for a british company getting paid in England because it's my choice to move here rather than be sent because of work, but as i'm going to be resident in germany will have to pay tax there :
QUOTE
Q.1 In what circumstances would I become non-UK resident if I left the UK?
A. Normally if you leave the UK permanently or for 3 years or more or to work abroad full-time, you will become not resident and not ordinarily resident in the UK if

* your absence from the UK covers a complete tax year (i.e. 6 April to
5 April), and
* you spend less than 183 days in the UK during the tax year, and
* your visits to the UK do not average 91 days or more a tax year over a maximum of 4 years.
(For visits to the UK, days of arrival and departure are not normally counted as days spent in the UK.)
What's the deal with tax?
I'm sure there must be some other people doing the same so:
who do i go to see about paying tax
am i going to be screwed over ( it sounds like it)
QUOTE
oh yeh and dont forget that as well as income tax you have to pay for medical insurance and a state pension
and its all done as percetages of youre bruto earnings , (the more you earn the more you pay) as a single bloke unfairly clased as haveng no dependants the b@+~&³ds take around fifty percent from me alltogether.

Will i actually have to be classed as self employed because of working for a british company?

Oh and should some of these tax questions not become FAQ's? (sorry i know everyone is busy but if some stuff could be summarised a bit it could stop repeat questions - the bank/transferring money faq's have allready helped!)
Cheers biggrin.gif
ben_R
Hi there,
There are a few things to keep in mind which you probably may have already found out as they have been mentioned here before:
1.) The German Tax system is extremely difficult to understand - Most of the Germans dont understand it.
2.) Generally taxes are higher in Germany than in the UK, especially if you add state pension and health insurance and if you happen to be single.
3.) You will need to sort out some form of health insurance anyway as you won't be able to rely on your E111 in the long run. Your Choices are the German public scheme ("Krankenkassen"), the German private scheme ("Privatversicherungen") or a UK based private scheme.
4.) The German tax year runs from 1. January to 31st december, unlike the UK tax year from April to April. So might be complicated as you might have to declare some of your previous UK earnings on your German tax return or vice versa.
5.) In General: If you live in Germany, work and earn money there you will need to pay tax there, no matter whether you are a German citizen or not.
6.) There are many self-help books available on how to do your tax return in Germany, but as you may guess unfortunately they are all in German. If your German is good enough ask for the "Konz" - available at virtually every bookshop. Otherwise you might need a good accountant (or German "Steuerberater") who knows both the UK and the German tax system. If you find one, let me know!
mandrax
I work for a UK company and get paid in the UK and also pay tax and NI there. I have health cover with AOK by virtue of the E101/128 and I even get an extra payment to cover the difference in Kindergeld/family allowance.
Tim Hortons Man
One way to get around this is to request that your take home is keep the same, a friend did that, moved from UK to Germany and the tax headache belongs to the company. Her take home is the same reagardless. I have several American friends who didn't do that and there take home is all over the board depending on the exchange rate.
Jay
You might want to take a look at the Centre for Non-Residents page from the UK government. There are a couple of FAQs there.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/

And:

http://www.german-embassy.org.uk/living___working_.html#tax
which includes a link to the German tax rates of 2004.

But you should not be 'screwed over' due to the double taxation agreements.

If you are a permanent employee for a British company is it not their responsibility to sort out your tax affairs?
Rebecca
These people may be helpful. I phoned them up a few years ago and they were happy to answer a few simple questions.

http://www.thefrygroup.co.uk/
Expat Mat
On the topic of German accountants or "Steuerberater":

Ursula Cottam
Steuerfachassistentin

+49/8141/358 558 Tel.
+49/8141/358 628 Fax

ursula.cottam@i-dial.de
simon_c
hi there
Thanks for the replies, still not much the wiser so guess i'm going to have to try and find an english speaking accountant - thanks for the contact Expat mat!

Thnaks also Ben r - some interesting stuff there & yup its sounding confusing as already!

QUOTE (Mandrax @ Mar 7 2006, 11:03 AM) *
I work for a UK company and get paid in the UK and also pay tax and NI there. I have health cover with AOK by virtue of the E101/128 and I even get an extra payment to cover the difference in Kindergeld/family allowance.

the company i work for have been told i have to be paying tax in germany pretty much as it says on the hmrc website as i'll be classed as resident in germany & have suggested i go self employed! - how do you get around that mandrax?
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